Not Your Average Deli

CHALLENGE: Link a newly built retail outlet to a growing casino and resort in order to ensure consistent messaging and promotion.

SOLUTION: Connect the two with fiber optic cabling and put everything on a centralized digital signage network.

WHEN THE JAMESTOWN S'KLALLAM Tribe marked the opening of the Tribal Longhouse Market and Deli on a cloudy Pacific Northwestern day in early May 2008, it represented an important step forward for the Washington tribe's casino and resort operation.

The tribe has operated the 7Cedars Resort and Casino for years. Located about 52 miles west of Seattle, the casino and resort operation has emerged as a vital economic engine for the tribe and the broader Sequim, Wash., community. The Tribal Longhouse Market and Deli was designed to play an important role in driving business to the casino and attendant properties.

“We have three customer bases that don't always overlap,” explains Jerry Allen, assistant general manager of the 7Cedars Casino. “We're trying to market all of our multiple properties. And clearly as our resort comes in, as that gets built out, we have to serve that task as well.”

So the proposed 11,000-square-foot retail store and six-pump service station had to do more than act as a simple point of sale. It needed to provide a high-quality experience that integrated seamlessly with other resort properties. Networked digital signage, linked to the 7Cedars Casino via fiber-optic cable, was the solution.

From the beginning, the Tribal Longhouse Market and Deli project emphasized the unique culture and image of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe. The front of the building features three tall totem polls, carved under the direction of tribal artist Dale Faulstich. Large bays of windows provide a sweeping view of Sequim Bay and the surrounding woods.

Inside, the market features an open and sophisticated look, with soaring ceilings and large windows. The natural wood post-and-beam architecture is augmented by stone countertops. The attractive design provides a compelling backdrop for the tribe's retail operation, but it presented something of a challenge for Triamp Group, the AV services and installation firm hired to build out the extensive AV infrastructure for the $12 million store.

Sony LCDs are mounted high and tilted to alleviate glare caused by light pouring in from a wall of windows.

“They are not the first tribe to create a longhouse-style store, but nobody has done it with digital signage, at least not to this scale,” says Kevin Hill, the Triamp senior partner who managed the AV project. “For anyone to spend that type of money on a tribal gas station is pretty impressive. I've been up the West Coast, the East Coast, and the Midwest and have never seen a tribal store like this.”

Allen says the Longhouse Market's high-end aesthetic is designed to integrate with the existing casino and a new resort, currently under construction. “When we did the store, it had to match the quality that the resort was going to deliver,” Allen says. “We couldn't put a 7-Eleven down there and a couple of kiosks and have the same experience. When we were thinking about it long term, the store was sort of a gateway for the way people feel about the resort.”